The China Mail - Peacekeepers wounded in Israel strike in Lebanon, UN says

Israel launched a barrage of strikes after Lebanon's Hezbollah said it carried out a missile attack targeting a military base near Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday.

The Wednesday attack came as Lebanon's health ministry said 40 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold in the east.

Hezbollah and Israel have been at war since late September, when Israel broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.

The territory's civil defence agency said 12 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people in north Gaza on Thursday.

Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel last year in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.

The raid in which the UN peacekeepers were wounded struck near an army checkpoint in south Lebanon's main city Sidon.

"The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint," the army said in a statement.

Three civilians in the car were killed, the military said, and three soldiers at the checkpoint were wounded along with five members of the Malaysian contingent of the UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL.

"Five peacekeepers were lightly injured and treated by the Lebanese Red Cross on the spot," UNIFIL said in a statement, urging all sides to avoid endangering peacekeepers or civilians.

The Israeli military told AFP it was looking into the reports.

Israel launched raids across the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, with one hitting an area near the airport.

Taxi driver Abu Elie, who was at the airport when the strikes hit, told AFP "the entire car park shook".

"People were carrying their suitcases on their shoulders and running," he said.

Officials told AFP the raid had caused minor damage but the terminal building was safe and flights were running as normal.

- 'Warm and cordial' -

In the lead-up to Tuesday's US presidential election, some in Lebanon had been hopeful that new leadership might bring them a reprieve.

But Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast on Wednesday that the vote -- won by Donald Trump -- would have no bearing on the war.

He warned that Hezbollah had tens of thousands of trained militants ready to fight, and that nowhere in Israel was "off-limits".

Israel's airports authority said Wednesday that operations at its main airport near commercial hub Tel Aviv were not affected after Hezbollah said it fired missiles at a military base nearby.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to keep fighting Hamas and Hezbollah until victory, spoke to Trump on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's office said the conversation was "warm and cordial" and he had congratulated Trump on his victory.

"The two also discussed the Iranian threat," his office said.

Shortly afterwards, Israel's defence ministry said it had signed a $5.2 billion agreement with Boeing to purchase 25 "next generation" F-15 fighter jets, which would be financed by US military aid.

In Lebanon, the strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs were so intense many residents of the city were unable to sleep.

"Death has become a matter of luck. We can either die or survive," said Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of south Beirut.

- 'Nothing left' -

Since September 23, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad.

Iran, which arms and finances Hezbollah, also dismissed the impact of the US vote.

"It makes no difference to us who won the US election," President Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed shah, but tensions soared during Trump's first term from 2017 to 2021.

In Gaza, ravaged by 13 months of war since the deadliest attack in Israeli history, people were desperate for a solution.

"We were displaced, killed... there's nothing left for us, we want peace," said Mamduh al-Jadba.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, on a visit to Jerusalem, said Trump's victory could yet provide a "window" for peace because the US president-elect had a "wish to see the end of the Middle East's endless wars".

- 'Very happy' -

Hamas's attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 43,469 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

In Israel, recent surveys have shown that a majority of people were hoping to see Trump return to the White House.

"Now we just need him to give us weapons," said fruit vendor Yossi Mizrachi, 51, adding he believed Trump would be able to "bring an end to the war".

K.Lam--ThChM